Means for stiffening shirt collars

ABSTRACT

A stiffener for a front pointed edge of a soft collar made of thin flexible plastics material having a V-shape rib pressed out from one face and a single straight rib pressed out from the other face and which extends centrally of said V-shape rib and passes through the apex thereof.

United States Patent Snare et al. 1 Aug. 29, 1972 [54] MEANS FOR STIFFENING SHIRT [56] References Cited 72 ICOLLARSV to S L Cl FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS t c nare' Alfred a on 1 ms g Lemd works, g f g 896,328 5/1962 Great Britain ..2/132 Road, London N 5,Eng1and 542,815 8/1922 France ..2/258 Filed! July 1970 Primary Examiner-James R. Boler [21] APPL No: 54,761 Att0meyEmory L. Grofi' and Emory L. Grofi, Jr.

57 ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Data A stiffener for a front pomted edge of a soft collar July22,1969 Great Brita-m "36727/69 made of thin flexible plastics material having a V- shape rib pressed out from one face and a single [52] US. Cl. ..2/132, 2/258, 2/261 Straight rib pressed outfrom h other face and which [51] Int. Cl. ..A4lb 3/00 extends centrally of Said v rib and passes [58] Field of Search ..2/132, 255-258,

through the apex thereof.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures MEANS FOR STIFFENING SHIRT COLLARS CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS United Kingdom Application Noc36727/69 dated July 22, 1969.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to means for stiffening the meeting front edges of soft shirts collars, i.e. the edges of the pointed parts of the collar between which a tie IS worn.

Although the invention is primarily concerned with siffeners for collars of collar-attached shirts it may advantageously also be applied to stiffeners for soft collars which are separate from and adapted to be connected to the collar bands of shirts.

The object of the invention is the provision of an improved stiffener which is very simple and inexpensive to make and which will act to retain the pointed front end of a collar comfortably and neatly in a set position while permitting said end to yield in a controlled manner with movement of a wearer so that it is not forcibly urged towards the shirt front to such an extent as to rub unduly against the shirt front and wear a hole in the latter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention there is provided a stiffener for a front pointed edge of a soft shirt collar which comprises a flat thin narrow strip of resilient sheet material formed with a single V-shape rib pressed out from one face thereof and pointing longitudinally of the strip, and with a second but straight rib which is pressed out from the other face and extends longitudinally of the stiffener and centrally of the width thereof and on an axis which intersects the apex of the V-shape rib pressed out from the first mentioned face of the stiffener.

Preferably, the material from which the stiffener is made is a thin and almost film-like transparant sheet of flexible plastics material such as a polyester which is sufficiently flexible to yield and bend with the neck movements and yet sufficiently stiff due to the added resistance to bending resulting from the provision of said straight rib to ensure that the point of a collar is maintained in a required set position.

The apex of the V-shape rib terminates on a blunt pointed end of the stiffener and one end of the straight rib terminates on said apex of the V-shape rib. The opposite end of the stiffener is simply rounded, i.e. semicircular.

The outer ends of the limbs of the V-shape rib terminates at or adjacent to the longitudinal edges of the stiffener.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective view looking towards one side of the stiffener,

FIG. 2 is a similar view looking towards the other side, and

FIG. 3 is a transverse section drawn to a larger scale and taken on the line Ill-Ill of FIG. I.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to said drawings, the stiffener l is made from a thin and almost film-like sheet of flexible plastics material, such as a polyester, which is sufficiently flexible to yield and bend with neck movements so that in particular, the blunted pointed end 2 will not cause a pointed part of the collar in which it is fitted to rub unduly against a shirt from and wear a hole in the latter. This stiffener 1 is formed with a single elongated V-shape rib 3 having a length which is substantially equal to the length of the stiffener. This V-shape rib is pressed out from one face of the stiffener (FIG. 1) and has its apex terminating at the point 2 of the stiffener and its mouth terminating adjacent a rounded and normally upper end 4 of the stiffener.

The face of the stiffener opposite to that having the V-shape rib 3 is formed with a single straight rib 5 (FIG. 2) which is pressed out from this face and extends longitudinally of the stiffener and centrally of the width thereof on an axis which intersects the apex of the V-shape rib 3.

The pressing out of the rib 5 from one face of the stiffener results in the transverse section of the stiffener between the limbs of the V-shape rib 3 assuming a very shallow V-form (FIG. 3) with the parts 6 between the said limbs 3 of the V-shape rib 3 and the outer longitudinal edges of the stiffener sloping in the opposite direction.

The provision of the single straight rib 5 and the consequent formation of the stiffener into the cross section illustrated in FIG. 3 imparts a desired rigidity to the stiffener which yieldingly resists flexing of the stiffener in such a manner as to permit desirable controlled flexing of the stiffener in a pointed front end of a collar in which it is incorporated but not to such an extent as to rub unduly against the shirt front and wear a hole in the latter.

As shown, the outer ends 3a of the limbs of the V- shaped rib terminates at or adjacent to the longitudinal edges of the stiffener l at said rounded end 4.

We claim:

1. A stiffener for a front pointed edge of a soft shirt collar comprising a flat thin narrow strip of resilient sheet material formed with a single V-shape rib pressed out from one face thereof and pointing longitudinally of the strip, and with a second but straight rib which is pressed out from the other face and extends longitudinally of the stiffener and centrally of the width thereof and on an axis which intersects the apex of the V-shape rib pressed out from the first mentioned face of the stiffener.

2. A stiffener as claimed in claim 1 wherein the apex of the V-shape rib terminates on a blunt pointed end of the stiffener and one end of the straight second rib terminates on said apex of the V-shape rib.

3. A stiffener as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outer ends of the limbs of the pressed out V-shape rib terminate at or adjacent to the longitudinal edges of the stiffener.

4. A stiffener as claimed in claim 1, wherein the material from which the stiffener is made is a thin and almost film-like transparent sheet of flexible plastics material as a polyester which is sufficiently flexible to yield and bend with neck movements and yet sufficiently stiff to ensure that the point of a collar is maintained in a required set position. 

1. A stiffener for a front pointed edge of a soft shirt collar comprising a flat thin narrow strip of resilient sheet material formed with a single V-shape rib pressed out from one face thereof and pointing longitudinally of the strip, and with a second but straight rib which is pressed out from the other face and extends longitudinally of the stiffener and centrally of the width thereof and on an axis which intersects the apex of the Vshape rib pressed out from the first mentioned face of the stiffener.
 2. A stiffener as claimed in claim 1 wherein the apex of the V-shape rib terminates on a blunt pointed end of the stiffener and one end of the straight second rib terminates on said apex of the V-shape rib.
 3. A stiffener as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outer ends of the limbs of the pressed out V-shape rib terminate at or adjacent to the longitudinal edges of the stiffener.
 4. A stiffener as claimed in claim 1, wherein the material from which the stiffener is made is a thin and almost film-like transparent sheet of flexible plastics material as a polyester which is sufficiently flexible to yield and bend with neck movements and yet sufficiently stiff to ensure that the point of a collar is maintained in a required set position. 